The Tweeting Is on the Wall for Chargers' Antonio Cromartie

The Chargers have a lot of decisions to make after this season.  I believe that Philip Rivers, Antonio Gates, Shawne Merriman, Jamal Williams, Darren Sproles and Antonio Cromartie are all playing on the last year of their contracts.  There is no way that A.J. Smith can, or will, sign all of them.  Therefore, this season will be very important for all of these players.

How they play on the field, and how they behave off the field, will be what helps Smith, the Chargers General Manager, decide who stays and who goes.

Some of this list seem like a no-brainer.  You have to pick up Rivers.  He was the top-rated passer in the league last year.  Maybe there are better quarterbacks, but the Chargers don't have any of them.  The Chargers simply must pay the man.

Shawne Merriman is expected to be slapped with the franchise tag for the next season or two, and then let go.  Smith will not pay Merriman what he will demand and has not led anyone to believe otherwise.  In fact, the maturation of first round pick Larry English will have a lot to do with how long they keep Merriman.

Jamal Williams and Antonio Gates are dominant at their positions, and when healthy, greatly help  the Chargers' chances of winning.  However, health has been a huge concern for both of these players in recent years.  It would not be a shock to see Smith go another direction, at least with Williams.

As for Sproles, he is not the only one who is in control of his future with the team. As this year's franchise tagged player, a lot will depend on two things:

1. How well does Sproles play this year?

2. How well does LaDainian Tomlinson play this year?

If L.T. slips further down in production, and is not healthy when the postseason comes around, they can't afford to let Sproles go.

That brings us to Antonio Cromartie.

I'm sure that you heard that Cromartie was just fined $2,500 for blasting the Chargers "nasty" food on Twitter.  He went so far as to say that the food may be the reason they didn't win the Super Bowl yet!  Huh?  Okay, maybe he was joking, but I won't let him off so easy.

Let's take a look at some of the decisions Cromartie has made in the last few years, along with how he has played.

• Cromartie had 10 picks in the regular season just two years ago.
• Cromartie only managed two picks last year after predicting 15 before the season.  He was torched many all season long, including an 18-catch performance by Bronco Brandon Marshall in Week Two.
• He waited until the end of the season to let people know that he fractured his hip during the Broncos game in Week Two and it never got right.  Now, shouldn't he have been upfront with his injuries and let a healthy guy step in?  All he did by being brave was make everyone think he was a one-year wonder.
• Cromartie fathered seven kids across five different states.  Enough said.
• Now, Cromartie has gotten himself in trouble for negative tweets about his employer.  I know he may have been joking, but he has no room to joke.  Maybe Rivers or Tomlinson could get away with tweeting smack, but not a guy who played like Cromartie last year.   He said today that his freedom of speech has been taken away.  Sorry, Antonio, very few of us can publicly rip our employers without consequence.
• Furthering his image, his Twitter screen name is "Crimetime31."  If you read his Twitter page, you will see that Cromartie tweets about everything but football.  Merriman, Williams, and Phillips constantly talk about working out and working hard to get better.  Yes, Merriman has had his verbal war with Ocho-Cinco, but for the most part, he seems to be focused.  Cromartie talks about girls, partying, and bad food.  That does not go far toward helping A.J. Smith's desire to keep him as a representative of the Chargers.  The Bolts have been embarrassed enough over the last few years.  Smith will have no more of it.

So, the way I see it, unless Cromartie puts up "stupid" numbers this year, the Chargers will wave bye-bye to Crimetime and send him on his way to act like a fool somewhere else, where the food might be even worse.